HONG KONG IPO GUIDE 2013
ask questions, and in some cases meet the Board responsible for delivering the returns on their investment. Your AGM will set the tone of your corporate appearance in the eyes of the investors, the industry and the media, so it is worth getting right. Typically, companies start preparing about three months in advance, deciding on a venue and working with their Registrar to plan for the registration of the shareholders, voting and the general administration of the meeting. Obviously, the more attendees you are expecting, the more complex this exercise is. If, at the IPO stage, you are able to anticipate how much interest you will have from shareholders in attending your AGM, you can take this into account when picking a Registrar; assessing their manpower and infrastructure capabilities, particularly voting service options – which can range from the traditional paper vote right through to voting via electronic devices for instantaneous voting results. You should have confidence in your Registrar’s ability to cope with whatever circumstances your AGM demands and to be able to represent your brand in the way you require. Meeting options and regulatory requirements are different in every country, so having a registrar with experience of different jurisdictions will help if you are looking to hold a meeting encompassing different locations. Preparing and communicating the associated board papers is also no small under-taking – check to see if your Registrar offers board portal software to help make this task easier – allowing your board to access and annotate board papers via their iPad or laptop. Mergers, Acquisitions and Other Corporate Actions Another future requirement you should be considering when selecting a Registrar should be the company’s need for corporate actions. If you would like to grow to the point that you can acquire a competitor, either locally or overseas; if you can see yourself merging with a complementary business at some point; if you anticipate the need to raise capital overseas – then taking this into account ahead of deciding on a Registrar is crucial in order to ensure that they can meet your needs. Rewarding and Retaining Your Employees You may have decided to award stock to employees at the point of listing, or after a period of time if all goes well financially. There are a multitude of different options for rewarding employees – your job is to make sure you pick a Registrar with experience in implementing and administering a variety of share plans so that you have options for your top executives as well as your broader employee base – and potentially your agents or resellers if you have that constituent. You should look for experience in making the most of local tax breaks, making accurate payments to deadline, delivering excellent customer service to what could be a significant part of your shareholder base, managing a planned roll-out and communications, supporting the company with financial reporting requirements and coping with any international elements you may have. Finding out that your chosen Registrar does not support a variety of employee share plans and having to appoint an external administrator could significantly add to the overall costs.
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